


In Which They Get Hitched

by Infiniteleft



Series: Comforts [4]
Category: Vocaloid
Genre: F/F, F/M, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Marriage Proposal, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, Romance, Tags May Change, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:02:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29305428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infiniteleft/pseuds/Infiniteleft
Summary: “Alright, I’ll be honest. Can you two keep a secret?”The famous, immortal words of something juicy about to happen. Meiko has been trying to think of a proper plan for weeks, to no avail. It would be hard enough trying to prepare for her partner's birthday, but adding in the stress of a proposal didn't help. Maybe she's asking for support from the wrong people...
Relationships: Hatsune Miku/Kagamine Rin, Kaito/Meiko (Vocaloid), Kamui Gakupo/Megurine Luka
Series: Comforts [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934644
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

Something that got her was that even after all this time, she wasn't tired of this. His face was so peaceful, still and serene like it was during his calm moments. Meiko smiled. It was unusual for him to be asleep so late, but… things hadn't been normal, recently. She guessed she couldn't begrudge him that much. Waking up early sometimes had its perks, and perhaps this was one of them.

As she lost herself in her musings, though, his breath changed. It sounded heavier. Her brow creased in worry. Oh, how stupid it was to fret over something so simple, and yet her hand still made its way to his neck, gently pressing her fingers to his pulse. It was kinda sluggish, but steady. Good. Pulling away, her palm moved to cup his cheek. He'd already begun to stir, so she felt only little remorse for the disturbance.

Just as luck would have it, he groaned and shifted, cracking his eyes open and wordlessly complained about the light as he did so.

"Good morning," she whispered. A hand came up to rest on top of her own.

Finally he zeroed in on her, and smiled. "G'morning…Y'look…. I'unno. Nice." His words came like cotton; fuzzy and thick, but welcome nonetheless. His other hand gestured weakly. It smacked the side of her thigh as he let it drop back onto the bed.

She looked at it before screwing up her face. "Nice? I'm fairly sure that I look like I got out of a trainwreck right now."

"Yeah…" A dazed blink followed. "...no? Wait. No. Is fine. Y'look fine." He stretched out; Meiko winced at the crack his shoulder gave, but surprisingly -- or unsurprisingly, given that her partner seemed to be still relatively dead to the world to some degree -- he didn't voice any discomfort. "Only a mil… mils…. nnn."

"A _what_?" 

He buried his face into the pillow for a second with a further disoriented noise. If she didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought that was a curse. But no. Probably an absurd complaint.

"...Kaito?"

A moment passed before he lifted his head again, disgruntled but looking a lot more coherent. "I said, you look fine."

"No, no, I got the part. What's a mil?"

"A million?" Meiko stared at him in disbelief. Sitting up straighter, she pinned him with a look, but he seemed as confused as she did. Joyous. Shaking his head, he muttered “nevermind,” and rolled over, letting her drape an arm over his shoulders. Warm…. Delightfully warm.

She sighed, tucking her chin over the top of his head. “What time is it?”

He looked up at her. “Um.”

Ah. There was indeed a bit of a problem there, wasn’t there?

“Right.” With another sigh, she craned her neck around to try and read the clock. Upon seeing that it was 6:53, she let out a loud whine. “Oh come on,” she flopped back onto her pillow, wrapping herself up around Kaito even tighter. “I don’t _wanna_ get up.”

A sympathetic hum, and a kiss was pressed to her jaw. “I know.”

“I don’t _wanna_ have to deal with Lily’s bitching today.”

“I know.”

“She’s gonna be so _pissed_ that I forgot to finish the stupid paperwork.” She realized she was sounding much like a brat right now, but she was honestly reaching her limits. And in that moment, it hit her once again that she had exactly two weeks left to complete her plans for the thing _not_ related to her band, but the person smoothing circles over her shoulders right this very instant. Her whine took on a gutteral quality as she realized she was still uncomfortably close to square one. Fuck. “And then there’s-- uuuuuuuughhhhhh.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, and Meiko didn’t doubt that he was. Another kiss was pressed to her neck. “Do you want me to make you lunch? Would that make you feel better? A little?”

“...I love you.” She closed her eyes, thankful to have someone who knew her so well.

That laugh… that wonderful laugh. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He sat up a little bit, ignoring her protests. His lips found their way to the top of her head, kissing her crown. “I know, I know, but I have to get up if I’m going to do anything. And you need to get up, anyway, and take a shower. Come on, a quick one. Your food will be ready by the time you’re out, I promise.”

She resisted the urge to pout some more and groaned. “Fine.”

* * *

Going to work that day was a nightmare, as expected. She’d only struck harmony with Lily when she agreed to finish her work over lunch. It was boring, and stressful, and Luka’s lighthearted teasing about her lunch was equally welcome.

She didn’t know why she invited her to hang out with her after work, but it was too late now.

In hindsight, it was fortunate that Meiko only asked two of her friends to join her for drinks today. Saved her from the mess that was the entire group. Unfortunately, the two she asked to join her were the two who were definitely, totally, absolutely, 100% not dancing around each other while certainly not sleeping together. At this point, she wondered if shoving them in a closet would do anything. Then again, this was Luka and Gakupo she was talking about. Hm. Last resort, she supposed.

That left her with her current problem of watching them awkwardly gravitate towards touching each other, realize they were touching, then pulling away hastily. She was losing her mind, and she already had so little of it left after a week’s worth of panic and work.

Meiko groaned, rolled her eyes, and distracted herself with her drink. Mm. One of her favorites, had the bartender bothered to mix it right. “You two are awful,” she told them once she swallowed. “Please tell me you’re past the ‘awkward flirting’ part and have a date set up already. Please. I’m going to _die_ watching you two.”

“Oh, absolutely not.” Gakupo shook his head quickly, much to Luka’s apparent displeasure. “Us, an item? You’re kidding.”

Meiko gave him the most disbelieving, unamused stare she could. He didn’t break a sweat. _Interesting._

“Besides,” he continued, “we’d be nowhere near as… stable as you are with Kaito, anyhow.”

“Setting the bar a little high, aren’t you?” She joked, even as a burst of embarrassment hit her cheeks. Having her relationship so idolized was a little strange, even if part of her was willing to revel in the fact it was as good as it was. PDA vs ego. It was a hard battle to fight, and she didn’t know what side she wanted to win. “Give yourself enough time, and it’ll sort itself out. Trust me.”

“Geez, how long have you been together, anyway?” Ignoring the blatant prod towards them getting together, Luka leaned in to take a sip of Gakupo’s soda, much to his chagrin. “I don’t remember you even mentioning any exes before.”

“Oh, no, we’ve definitely had exes. They’re just… not that notable, really.” Meiko’s face screwed up as she thought, quietly adding, “most of them, anyhow.”

“Most of them?”

“Kaito _does_ have an ex who was arrested for attempted murder and arson.”

“Didn’t he get stabbed by--”

“No, that was Teru.” Luka corrected him, glancing up at a group that passed their table with a wince. Out of the corner of her eye, Meiko noticed that they most certainly were eavesdropping in, and she shot them a glare. It was no small amount of satisfaction she felt when they immediately looked away, sped up by one of them shoving his friends forward towards a table in the back. Good. Luka continued once they passed. “Although, that’s weird that they both have some weird stories…”

“Certainly. Though, that’s not an answer to Luka’s question,” Gakupo pointed out, giving up on trying to protect his soda from his casually-not-casual friend’s thievery. Her smirk spoke volumes, but Meiko elected to ignore it, in favor of trying to hide her creeping embarrassment.

Pulling up her jacket collar may not have been her most subtle move, but she thought about it far too late. Great. Now they were going to tease her. “Ugh, really? Do you really think I remember?”

“One of you has to. And -- though he’s a great guy, don’t get me wrong -- he doesn’t even remember his own birthday.”

“To be fair,” Gakupo interjected, “nobody knows what day it really is.”

“What?”

Meiko sighed. “Long story. To make it short, nobody knows if it’s the 14th or the 17th, so… he prefers the 14th, but his grandmother insists on the 17th, and it’s a yearly tradition to watch his relatives fight about it. Gakupo, you went once, right?”

“Mmhm.”

Luka glanced between the two of them, evidently trying to tell if they were joking. However much Meiko wished she was, some things just couldn’t be made up. “How does his mother not know when he was born?!”

“I think she asks herself that far more often than she should. It’s been thirty years, I don’t think we’re ever gonna get an answer.”

Disbelieving silence lasted for all of a moment. Luka shook her head. “Sometimes, I’m convinced you’re making half of this stuff up.”

“Hey,” she bit out. “Don’t tell him that.”

“Has anyone else noticed you haven’t answered yet, Meiko?”

“Fuck off.”

“Give him an answer, Meiko.”

“Ugh, fine. College. We got together in college.”

“So… how long ago was that -- no, I’m not calling you old.” Luka cut her off, waving a fry at her. Ew. She got ketchup on the table. Thankfully, Gakupo was bothered by it as well, and hastily cleaned it up, shaking the napkin at his not-girlfriend.

Thinking about it made her come to surprising revelations. Did she want to unveil how long they’ve been together? Geez. It made her want to bury her face in her hands, as childish as that was. “Eleven years?”

“That’s a long time to be dating someone,” her friend mused, scratching his chin.

Luka had the presence of mind to not talk with her mouth full, a trait Meiko forever valued. Particularly when Miku did the exact opposite. Unfortunately, the next thing to come out of her mouth made Meiko wish she’d just eaten another fry. “When’s the wedding?”

Why, oh why did she have to have friends who kept making jokes that were the truth?

Coughing the whiskey out of her lungs from where she inhaled it, she slammed her glass on the table before giving Luka a glare. Her friend maintained her taunting innocence, raising an eyebrow. “Shut up,” Meiko croaked.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Is everything okay?” Curse her friends for also being perceptive, and also just… knowing things about her in general. It was a nice thing, sometimes, but most days she found herself rueing the fact that people had the ability to get under her skin in the most dire manner, and she had no desire to make them stop. Having friends was weird and hard.

Which meant she was out of luck if she wanted to throw them off the trail of her actual plans. If anything, they’d probably nip at her heels for the next couple of days, trying to get the faintest hint of blood. As if they had anything to go on… although, if she had to be honest, she could use their help. They were smart, caring, and witty on the rare occasion. They _also_ weren’t just her friends, but friends with her partner, which made things a bit easier. More complicated, too, in that she would have to trust them not to spill anything, but… maybe the threat of murder would keep them in their toes. She sighed.

“Alright, I’ll be honest. Can you two keep a secret?”

The famous, immortal words of something _juicy_ about to happen. She could see the sparks in their eyes, how they definitely wanted in. They had to know how important this was, though. Leaning in, over the table, she reached over and dragged them in by their collars. “I mean it. You two need to keep your traps shut or else you’ll _ruin_ it. And you don’t want to do that, do you?”

“Definitely not,” and “Not at all” greeted her at once. She held them there for a moment more, scowling sternly as she judged how truthful they were being. While they looked a bit cowed, she couldn’t see any hint of them being dishonest…

“Good.” She sat up, releasing them. “So, both of you know we’ve been dating forever.”

A pair of nods.

“Both of you know my boyfriend.”

Another set of nods. Confusion was setting in.

“Both of you know he doesn’t ever make a move.”

Mumbling. Very awkward mumbling and slow shakes of their head.

“You know where that leaves us, right?”

“Meiko… please tell me you’re not about to ask us for help on how to break up with him,” Luka looked quite nervous at the thought, sinking down into her shoulders and tugging on her hair. Gakupo shot her a surprised look, but nodded.

They thought she was going to do _what now_ ? “Bwuh, y-- what,” she sputtered, drawing back. Once again she watched them intently and… oh, for fuck’s sake. “No, you fucking idiot, that’s not what I’m asking you about! That’s the exact _opposite_ of what I want!”

Luka had to take a moment to process what she said. When it hit them both, however, she was a little amused with the way they cycled through several emotions before settling on disbelief. “Wait, wait, so you’re… you know… marriage?” She whispered the last part, as if her soon-to-be-fiancee was actually here. Joke’s on her, even if he was here without them knowing, Meiko doubted he’d be paying enough attention to listen in.

“It’s not a dirty word, Luka.” Meiko took a sip of her drink, far more calmly. “And no, not yet -- I sort of kind of have to, well, _propose_ first before we can get to that part.” She paused, a thought striking her. “Though, if I asked him to elope right this second, he’d probably say yes. Probably.”

“So what’s stopping you?”

How does she say ‘I would like a nice wedding, thankyouverymuch,’ without uttering the words ‘I would like a nice wedding,’ in any form? ...she has a whole other partner she can blame. Score.

“You look at Kaito and tell me he doesn’t seem like the type to secretly want a nice wedding. ”

“Oh. Uhm, so… you want us to help with proposing?” Luka looked up at Gakupo, and she didn’t miss the quick flash of suspicion her friend shook off. Goodness, meddling in other people’s affairs was more their mojo and not hers.

“Yep. See, it’s… I have ideas about when, but how…” She grimaced. “I can’t just say ‘marry me, you little shit,’ now can I?”

“Insulting him is not a good idea, no.”

“And this is exactly why you two are here. So. Ideas?”

They glanced at each other before throwing out options.

“Cruise?”

“He gets sea sick.”

“Romantic evening?”

“Not on his birthday, no. Unless you mean--”

“Oh, trust me, you don’t want to do it that way.” Luka shook her head, making an expression of distaste. “It’s cheap and feels ingenuine. Makes it feel like it’s only because of the sex, which, while kind of a compliment, is also insulting.”

Meiko and Gakupo both had to take a moment to check if that was, indeed, Luka who had said that. “...personal experience, huh?”

“You don’t want the answer to that, Meiko, trust me.”

Meiko glanced suspiciously at Gakupo, but dropped it. “Alright. So, that’s out of the picture.”

“Have you tried watching proposal videos?”

“And sit through fifteen minutes of just one proposal? Disgusting. No thank you.” She shuddered. “They’re always so public, too -- yeah, sure, let me ask a deeply personal question in front of some fifty people, force my boyfriend into having to say yes lest he embarrass the fuck out of us both.”

“That’s a, uh… depressing way to look at it.”

“And true. Any other ideas? Ring in a drink is also out of the question, I want a live fiancee and not a dead boyfriend.”

“Fuck, I don’t know, parachuting?”

“..say what now?”

“Go parachuting or something.”

“You want me to bring a man who is afraid of _stairs_ onto a plane, and then convince him to jump out of that plane? With only a couple weeks to even book that?”

“Good point. Uh… propose in the morning?”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Meiko muttered. “So, morning… I still can’t just roll over and go ‘marry me,’ unless we’re trying to make him think it’s a joke.”

“Hey, at least he wouldn’t be suspicious of it.” Luka shrugged, reaching for another fry and pouting when the basket was empty. “Oh, come on…”

“You’re trying to be simple, aren’t you? Why don’t you just take him aside and tell him how you feel?”

“Gakupo. This is a _proposal_.”

Luka mumbled something that earned her an elbow to the ribs. Meiko couldn’t see what happened exactly, but from the way Gakupo hissed and grabbed his leg, she assumed Luka kicked him in the knee as revenge. Ow _. Not where you should be aiming, Luka…_

“I’m serious here. Use your brains, I know you’ve got them in there.” Meiko squinted, making sure that was true. “Something special but simple. Urgh, alright, let’s do this the other way around; what does Kaito _hate_? Besides you-know-who. That’s not a valid answer.”

They all stared at each other silently for a couple moments.

“Attention.” Luka finally said. Gakupo’s expression shifted into something Meiko recognized as dissent, but he offered no rebuttal.

Frustrated, she licked her lips, chewing the corner. “Anything other than the obvious,” she clarified. “Please, I have been thinking about this for weeks, I need something _fresh."_

Gakupo sighed, then leaned forward. “Meiko-san, I know Luka-chan just mentioned it, but I do think you’re overthinking this on some level. Kaito-san loves you beyond measure. You two have been dating for eleven years. There’s nothing you have to prove. Make it simple and quiet, but special. How can you make it personal? Is there anything you can think of?”

She groaned, collapsing onto the table as he chipped too closely at what was bothering her. “I don’t fucking know, alright? Everything I can think of is too… bland. Or too public. How the fuck am I supposed to ask him ‘hey, wanna spend the rest of your life with me?’ while not being too dramatic about it? Besides just saying something _stupid_ like that?” Meiko buried her face in her arms. “Why am I even doing this? Does it even matter?!”

A chair scraped against the floor in time with the hand landing on her arm. Leather squeaked as Luka settled next to her, resting a hand on her back. “I think it does, if you’re this upset about it. Meiko… have you even talked about this with him at all?”

“Kind of,” she muttered, lifting her head up enough to peek at her. “We’ve had to talk about the legal… options… in case, you know…”

Luka looked up, and Meiko could guess she was sharing a look with Gakupo. After a moment, she looked back down. Understanding dawned on them. “And how did that go?”

She had to think back on it to find the answer. It probably didn’t help her any, that she spent most of the time thinking about it trying to actively forget that it had to happen. She steeled herself with an upset breath. “We decided not to,” she said slowly, ignoring how she sounded. “In case we ever changed our minds, especially after -- after things settled. We went for assigning me power of attorney instead.”

They looked at eachother again. “Did he at least tell you if he wanted to get married at all?”

Meiko squinted. “...yeah.”

“Then what are you so scared of?” Luka asked, a bland tone at the edges of her voice.

Silence reigned, with Meiko holding her tongue and her friends waiting. The truth was that she still worried whether she was enough for him. The time she’d spent with him did little to ease her fears, even considering their lifetime of friendship before that. But she couldn’t tell them that. They’d start digging for problems they thought she had, when she _didn’t_ have any, and she was just being insecure and stupid over it.

“Well?”

Right, she was being ridiculous. She laughed, straightening up. If he really didn’t like her, he could just walk away. Right. “No, you know what? All this thinking over it is possibly the most moronic thing I’ve ever done, as short a list that is. Simple and personal works just fine. Fuck, okay. I’ve got it.”

Her friends shared a look before turning back to her. “Well?” Gakupo asked. “Care to let us in on the plan?”

* * *

Luka woke up the next day with a dull headache. Groaning, she rolled over to slam the alarm button off. Fortunately, there was no such thing on the birds chirping outside, and she finally stumbled out of bed, to the kitchen. Alright. Next time, she was going to avoid vodka. Now she understood why Kaito refused to drink…

Why she decided to do so the night before a work day continued to elude her.

She opened her laptop with a groan, noticing that she had far too many messages from a certain old flame waiting for her. It was too early for this. Besides, she had more important things to be worrying about, like helping Meiko go through with proposing. And work. She had that to think about, too.

She had maybe three minutes of peace before the twins came thundering downstairs. Not for the first time did she wish she had headphones instead, when her dinky little earbuds did absolutely nothing to block out the noise. The tinny music coming through was easily drowned out by the chaos they were already wreaking in the kitchen behind her.

Even though they were loud enough to disturb her, she couldn’t make out what they were arguing about this time. Something about… ah, don’t tell her they got toothpaste on the ceiling again. That shit _stained_ , Rin. Luka shot them an irritated glare.

To her surprise, that immediately shut them up, and they looked contrite. That was unusual, and she wondered if she overdid it a little, or if she really looked that bad. She could make out the dual ‘sorry,’ and then they _quietly_ went back to rummaging for breakfast.

They even sat down and ate their food without further complaints, which sent up far too many red flags for Luka’s liking. She cast a glance over to the two of them, quietly talking to each other in the living room. Suspicious. The larger part of her, which reasoned that she needed to get her own stuff done, figured they couldn’t be in that much trouble yet.

And given how they weren’t squirming when she stared at them, she was willing to bet that it was about Miku. She gave an amused snort. Teenagers.

...she wasn’t old enough to be thinking that, but she sure felt it, even if she had absolutely no room to talk, given her own recent dilemma of accidental FWB. Ugh. Here she was again. Focus. She needed to focus and write down this stupid track listing, and the stupid directions to go with it.

Another few minutes passed before a shadow fell onto her and she looked up to see both Rin and Len standing there, looking rather awkward. Oh, great, maybe they _were_ in trouble. “Alright, what did you two do?”

“Nothing!” Rin immediately barked, looking a little wounded. Len, however, didn’t look as affected by her comment. They got into trouble often enough that it was an entirely plausible thing to be suspicious of. “We didn’t do anything!”

Len pulled out a chair to sit in. “Yet,” he added, to Rin’s ire.

Well, if it wasn’t an emergency like that… Luka dipped her head, turning back to her worksheet. “Okay then. So what are you two up to today, then? No mischief? None at all?”

“Boring for sure,” Len nodded as he spoke, “since _Rin_ decided that she has super important things to be doing today that all involve being super, ultra nice. And _stuff_.” He shot his sister a look as he said that last part, to which Rin responded by sticking out her tongue.

“Do I wanna know what that involves?”

Rin leaned forward. It would be a little more intimidating, were the girl not only 5 foot. “It’s all nice stuff, I promise! And kinda important,” she grit out ‘important’ with evident intent on rebuking her brother. “Like, you know how Miku’s brother’s birthday is on the fourteenth, right?”

“His name’s Kaito,” Len supplied, giving Rin a weird look.

“Shut up, it’s weird to call him that.”

Luka sighed. She didn’t have enough energy in her for this… “He’s told you you can call him whatever you’d like, so please don’t start. Okay? Think about the topic at hand, you two. What about it?”

“You know how you said you would cover getting him a present, right?”

“Mm?”

Rin pressed her fingers together. “So, how much are you willing to budget on this?”

Uh oh. That didn’t bode well. Luka pulled her other earbud out, turning her attention towards her charges fully. “What is it?”

“It’s not anything crazy, I swear!” Rin waved her hands wildly, and her twin nodded. “We were just thinking that we should do something nice. Nicer than giving him a penguin.”

“A… penguin.”

“A stuffed one,” Len clarified.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s nice and all, but… you know he still has a computer from the 80s, right?”

She didn’t like thinking about it, but she knew very well what they were referring to. She also knew what state it was in, which made her wonder if she knew where they were going with it. Considering that the ancient and yellowing device was being cooled with a tabletop fan, and it still used _floppy disks…_ yeah. “I’m following you so far.”

“Me, Len, and Miku were talking about it a couple days ago, and we kinda thought it’d be nice to get him a laptop to use instead. Nothing fancy, but… something reliable?” She cocked her head to the side, her bow flopping along with her. “There’s some older ones that aren’t super expensive now.”

Luka dipped her head, motioning them on.

Rin pressed her fingers together, somehow managing to tilt her head even further. She was going to fall at this rate. “Like, there’s one we found that’s less than 20,000 yen. It’s secondhand, but still in nice shape and everything.”

She thought about it. Well, it wasn’t the worst thing for them to have chosen. Truth be told, it was actually rather sweet and thoughtful. Luka’s heard secondhand tales of what all that computer has done, and from the sound of it, it was close to being on its last legs. Which wasn’t great, even if Kaito didn’t use it as often anymore -- which also might be due to being unable to sit up and use it a fair portion of the time.

A more up-to-date machine might also be more functional for more things, too. Hm. She sighed, opening a new tab in her browser. She _should_ be able to swing the couple thousand they needed, given that it was only February.

“Okay. Sure. If you know _exactly_ what you’re getting,” she gave them both a look, “then I don’t see why not. Where’s it from?”

“Thrift store. The one across from the grocery store.”

Luka checked the time. “Alright. You’re not busy this afternoon, are you?”

“Miku is, so… yeah.” Len pointedly looked at Rin. Her response was to ignore him, as if that would do anything. “I’ll go with you while Rin’s doing her _stuff_.” Luka sighed. _Teenagers,_ the 20-year-old thought.


	2. Chapter 2

“Nine days. Thankfully, we have the day off then.”

The well-lit diner Gakupo found himself in was a far cry from the bar he just left. For one, he could actually see things. Second, the food here was a sight better than what his employers thought was suitable. Third, no drunk patrons. While he didn’t mind being a bartender, sometimes… sometimes it was just a bit much.

Kaito didn’t look much better off than he was, but at least he managed to give him a smile. “Thinking about quitting, or a raise?”

“Both. I doubt I could ever be paid enough to deal with that crowd again.”

Kaito poked at his food thoughtfully. Or at least, it seemed thoughtful -- on closer look, Gakupo realised he was pushing tomatoes to the side. Huh. Didn’t he mention that he did  _ not _ want those…? Maybe this place wasn’t better than the bar, after all. “It’s not so bad, you know. That was only once, it’s normally pretty peaceful. I don’t mind it too much.”

“So says the man who finds drying paint entertaining.” Gakupo paused before taking another bite. “You’d just like to get out of having to deal with your birthday, wouldn’t you?”

That earned him an awkward laugh. Body language, use it. “It’s a nice perk,” he admitted, already curling up into his jacket.

“What’s so bad about it? Do you not enjoy being special, at least for a little while?”

“Gakupo, please.” Kaito finally looked up at him, setting his chopsticks down. To Gakupo’s surprise, his friend’s voice was unsteady, even if his words sounded rehearsed. “I don’t want to talk about it. There’s a reason for it, but I’d rather not talk about it here. Please.”

Strange, but… “Oh, I see.” Now that Gakupo thought about it, more than a little guiltily, chances were that it had to be related to trauma. “I’m sorry. You have the day off this year, though -- is there anything you were thinking about doing for Meiko?”

He accepted the slight topic change with pleasure. “I don’t really know. I was thinking about the usual, you know. But, well…” He knit his fingers together, looking down at them. He seemed nervous again, which struck Gakupo as odd. It took no small amount of restraint to keep himself from reaching over and stopping his friend from fidgeting with his hands; Gakupo reminded himself that as long as he wasn’t about to hurt himself doing it, it was  _ fine. _

“Well?”

Kaito stilled, covering half his face. “Do you think I should propose?”

Gakupo choked.

* * *

Meiko glanced up, catching her gaze on the clock once again. The hands and screen both read 2:21, and she resisted the urge to lay her head on the back of the cushions. If she went to sleep now, not only would she miss Kaito coming back, but she’d also have to deal with this pile of garbage in the morning. Not for the first time did she consider changing careers, hopefully finding something niche but satisfying. But no, she always knew that she’d feel empty without her band.

Unfortunately, that didn’t help her with the songwriting.

Miku flopped onto the couch next to her; she hadn’t noticed the girl was there at all until now. Geez, the kid was still up? That wasn’t good. “Something wrong? I thought you were dead asleep already. It’s way past your bedtime.”

She sighed her bangs out of her eyes. “Meiko, can I be honest?”

“Can you?” Ah, she couldn’t resist it, as low as the fruit hung. Miku glared at her as she snickered. Maybe she should be a smidge more serious about it. She sobered. “What’s up, beansprout?”

“I kinda don’t know what to get nii-san.” Miku sunk into the cushions, as if willing them to eat her alive. “Everything that I can think of feels too small or not good enough.”

“Like…?”

“I can’t just give him a book. That’s boring, and he’s probably not gonna have the patience to sit through it. Have you seen him read a book lately? I sure haven’t.”

“Miku…he does read.” Baffled, Meiko pointed to the bookshelves that encased their TV. The ones that were  _ covered _ in well-worn books. “He just doesn’t do it on the couch because he does, also, in fact, get distracted easily. Why do you think he spends so much time in our room?”

“I know he does, but… he doesn’t, lately. I don’t think he likes reading when he has migraines.”

She tilted her head. “Mm. Good point. Alright, so you don’t wanna give him a book. Anything else you shot down?”

“Um… no clothes. Nii-san’s picky.” Miku’s cheeks puffed out as she somehow managed to melt into the seat even further. “Which, y’know, fair, clothing feels funny. But that rules out stuff that smells nice, too."

Meiko winced a little as she remembered the last time someone tried that. It… hadn’t gone too well, in short. “Ugh, yeah, no. Hm.”

“And food doesn’t last long enough. It’s like -- it’s a side gift, you know?”

Meiko nodded.

“And -- and he doesn’t play a lot of video games, which, y’know, also makes sense. But getting him a new deck of playing cards is, like, an awful idea. You have to have  _ old _ cards. They have to be worn, and stuff. They’re awful when they’re new.” Miku was managing to make intense gestures, despite the fact she was buried into the cotton. “They’re the  _ worst _ . Also, nii-san’s current deck is like, super sentimental and stuff, since, um… it’s from Dad.”

Meiko nodded after some thought. “Yeah, that makes sense,” she said, matching the soft volume of Miku’s voice. She closed her eyes, wondering if this was part of something a lot deeper than indecision involving a present for her brother. “Is that all you have?”

After a moment, Miku nodded with a sad noise of affirmation. And then added, “it’s stupid. Everything I’m coming up with isn’t good enough, and I don’t even have a lot of ideas. Some sister I am…”

“Okay.” Meiko closed her eyes with a quiet sigh, and then said, “c’mere for a second.”

Miku wormed her way out, and Meiko pulled her into a one-armed hug.

“First of all, the fact you can’t figure something out doesn’t mean you’re a bad friend, sibling, what have you. Okay? Get that out of the way. That’s a stupid idea, and not even remotely true. Second, Kaito is still going to love you even if you give him a box of trash bags. Now, I’m not saying you should do that, but really, at the end of the day? He just likes spending time with people.” She pat Miku’s shoulder. “That includes you. Third, he doesn’t really care for things that go all-out. So if you think you know something he might like, like, say, food, he will be happy with it. Trust me. Why do you think he’d rather celebrate his birthday on Valentine’s day?”

“Um…”

“It’s because he can get away with not telling people about it, that’s why.” She grinned. “I do have a suggestion, though.”

“What? What is it?”

“Get him coffee. Ooh. Or, better yet, I have an idea.” Pulling away from Miku, she reached for her phone, tapping in her PIN. It unlocked with a pleasant ding. Quickly, she pulled up her browser and fumbled through remembering and spelling what she was looking for. “He hates chocolate by itself, cause it’s too sweet, as you know. But. How about this?”

Miku leaned over, peering at the screen Meiko flipped to show her. “Eh? It’s… chocolate?”

Meiko zoomed in.

“Oh! ...oooh.”

* * *

There was a small piece of silver lining in this, in that his surprise saved him from having to explain himself immediately. The rest of it, however, was not as good. It rather hurt, to be honest.

“I take it that’s a bad idea?” Kaito asked once reasonably assured Gakupo hadn’t inhaled anything. Once Gakupo himself was reasonably assured that he could breathe again, he took note of the mix of anxiety and resignation on his friend’s face.

Drat. He might’ve just given him the entirely wrong idea, hadn’t he? But with Meiko’s ideas already discussed, he wasn’t about to make it a moot point. “No, no, it’s not that--"

Kaito gave him a doubtful look.

“It’s, ah… Meiko’s…” What could he say that  _ wouldn’t _ outright tell him that he didn’t have to do that? “Well, Meiko.”

Evidently, it worked. “Yeah,” he sighed, leaning forward much like Meiko had -- it struck him that maybe one of them picked it up from the other.

“Perhaps you should suggest you’re interested,” Gakupo offered, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He hadn’t wanted to upset him. “See what she thinks.”

Dropping his hands over the back of his neck, Kaito sighed again. He turned his head a little, resting his cheek on the table. “Maybe that would be a better idea. It’s… ah, who am I kidding, who’d ever want to--” He stopped suddenly, pushing up with a strange look. He was quiet for a moment before saying, much softer, “I probably shouldn’t be saying that.”

“Hm?”

“Nevermind. I’ll take your word for it,” He cleared his throat, and Gakupo noticed how damp his eyes were, alarmed. Before he could say anything else, Kaito changed the subject. “What’s with you and Luka lately? Is everything alright?”

Of  _ course _ this was what he changed it to. “What makes you ask?” Gakupo crossed his arms. 

“Both of you can’t stand being in the same room together, and you pick at each other a lot more than you usually do. It doesn’t seem friendly, either.”

He winced. Busted. His shoulders dropped, and he looked out the window. “So you’ve noticed it. It’s… we’re not fighting, it’s merely… awkward. We’re in a weird position, is all.” Now that he started, he realized how badly he wanted to tell someone about it. Who better than Kaito? He was surprisingly adept at relationship advice… “I might’ve done something I shouldn’t have.”

There was a soft rustle of fabric. “What happened?”

“We slept together.” Gakupo leaned back, waiting for the imminent rebuke.

It didn’t come. “And?”

He looked back at Kaito, who simply seemed to be watching him neutrally. His shoulders relaxed a little. Perhaps he wasn’t going to be judged. Yet. “I left afterwards. I doubt she would’ve appreciated the reminder of her mistakes sitting there in the morning… ah, I’ve really messed it up, haven’t I? She doesn’t want anything else from me. What am I supposed to do? Telling her I don’t want that would ruin everything. She’d never talk to me again.”

Kaito hummed quietly. “I don’t think you’re giving her enough credit. Luka can be a bit touchy and aggressive, yes, but she still does her best to be fair. Look, I’ll be honest, it might not have been the best idea to have sex with her-” Gakupo cringed at how plainly he put it, “-without telling her how you felt, but it’s not the worst thing in the world.”

He closed his eyes. “Perhaps not, but the point stands.”

“Not really. Do you want my advice or comfort?”

“...advice.”

“Talk to her. Be honest about what you both want…” As Kaito began speaking, Gakupo leaned in, reluctantly considering his suggestions and trying to avoid getting distracted. That was such a close call...

* * *

Meiko was trying to put things away when her partner walked in, blessedly distracted by his phone while she hastily slammed the dresser shut. He looked up to find her backed up against it, leaning on it like she was  _ trying _ to be cool and failing miserably.

She tried to get her heartrate under control -- if it kept up, he probably could hear her nerves. He couldn’t suspect anything, lest it ruin the surprise. What wonderful, wonderful timing. This man she was planning on marrying had the  _ worst _ timing for everything ever. Fortunately for her, it was too late to back out now, so all she could do was sweat it out as he stared at her in confusion. “Hi there.”

Confusion morphed into suspicion, and she could barely hear him over the sound of her spiking pule. “Mei-chan, what did you  _ do _ ?”

“Hey! What do -- what makes you think I did anything?!” She scowled, crossing her arms and definitely not trying to look less suspicious. “I’m just-- was getting dressed. You know.”

A blink. Meiko felt herself sweating, but he sighed and gave her a small smile. “Okay, if you say so.” After a moment, he asked, “do you want me to leave, then?”

This would be a terrible time to continue on with her preparations. Already he caught on to some of her behaviour, and she had about… three days to keep it all under wraps. Kaito might not be the most observant man alive, but he was no slouch. And, well, she was a terrible liar. That didn’t help. Her fingers splayed out in an uncomfortable gesture. “Doesn’t really matter."

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Get on the bed, doofus.” She rolled her eyes, tugging her ease back from wherever it tried to crawl. At long last, it didn’t feel like any organs were trying to crawl out from her chest. “I’m bored.”

Kaito obeyed, but he was definitely a little confused. “Bored?”

“Yes. Bored. I want a hug.” She stuck her arms out, moving to half-kneel on the mattress. Thankfully, it was easy enough to crawl over to curl up into a ball at his side.

Arms wrapped around her, and he tugged her close as best he could. She laid her head on his shoulder. A moment later, he tugged the blanket around them, and she didn’t miss the shivering. “Is something wrong, Mei-chan?” Worry nipped at the edges of his voice.

She shook her head. “Not really, nothing like that, no. It’s just…” Think fast, think fast. “I might’ve stress-done everything already.” It wasn’t a lie, to be honest. She’d spent the past few weeks in a blurry haze of averted grief, overwhelming rage, and efforts to track down missing

“Has your mother called at all?” He asked,

Meiko shook her head. “Not since last month. Guess she hasn’t heard anything new from him.”

“It’s not like he hasn’t done anything like this before,” he noted, giving her a weak smile. “He’ll probably turn up again soon. It’s what he does.”

“Yeah, well, he’s a dick.”

“I’ll agree with you on that. But it’ll be fine.”

She sighed, then unfolded herself a bit. “Probably, but I don’t have to like it. Enough of Dad’s bullshit, though. Guess what Iroha did earlier. You’ll never get it. But it’ll be fun to watch you try.”

“Uh…” He squinted. “You were at practice, earlier, right? Did she break someone’s instrument?”

“Nope, but you’re close.” She shifted, peeking up at him. “Didn’t change out of reverse, and put a hole in the wall. The bushes survived, at least. Only needs a bit of pruning for the broken branches.”

“Goodness… and she’s okay?”

“Yeah, but Luka’s kinda pissed. Can’t blame her, considering she’s got to fix the garage now. I might’ve offered to help her with the bushes.” Meiko put on her most pleasant expression. “I know you don’t like yardwork, but you’re welcome to come with me tomorrow. Moral support and all that.”

“Moral support for trimming bushes…?”

“They’re rose bushes.”

Understanding dawned on him, and he winced. “Ah. What time did you want to be there, then…?”

**Author's Note:**

> You do not want to know how tired I am of writing this. Next time, I'm starting it soon as it hits midnight on new year's day, if only to give myself enough buffer to not have to cram 12k into 12 days! Don't be like me, kids, plan your writing out if you're gonna write something large. The amount of stuff I had to cut out is unreal.


End file.
